By Wayne McCullough, Sky Sports Blog
Wladimir Klitschko defende his WBO and IBF heavyweight belts in his 'home' country of Germany this past weekend in front of 51,000 fans. He faced American Eddie Chambers, who earned his no 1 contender spot with solid wins last year over Samuel Peter and, most recently, Alexander Dimitrenko.
The question that remained was that at 6ft 1in, was Chambers too small for Klitschko and how would he deal with the 6ft reach advantage from his opponent?
Klitschko has three defeats on his record from 56 fights, 47 by KO, but he was stopped in all three of his losses. Chambers has lost only once back in January 2008 to Alexander Povetkin, who won the 2004 Olympic Gold medal at super-heavyweight. Now he was fighting the 1996 super-heavyweight gold medalist, so how would he fare this time?
Since losing to Lamon Brewster in April 2004, Klitschko has been on form winning 11 straight fights, nine inside the distance. Chambers has rallied off five straight wins and, in his last fight, showed that the height difference between himself and his opponent wasn't a problem when he beat the 6ft 7in Dimitrenko with ease using fast combinations and lots of angles.
Chambers weighed in at 209½lbs, only 9½lbs over the cruiserweight limit, compared to Klitschko who weighed in at 244¾lbs. But maybe Chambers should have dropped the extra weight to fight in the lower division, where he wouldn't have disadvantaged himself.
Effective
It was obvious from the get-go that Klitschko's height and weight advantage were going to be an issue in this fight. He was definitely the bigger, stronger man. As usual he stood up straight with his left hand low and his chin up in the air but he used an effective left jab repeatedly.
Early on Chambers was moving and tried using angles with his jabs. He even tried to sneak some overhand rights to Klitschko's head but Wladimir had the knack of jabbing and getting out of the way.
In the second round, Chambers got close but instead of throwing punches he lifted his opponent up and dropped him to the canvas. Klitschko wasn't happy and with about 30 seconds left in the round, got to his feet and landed a solid overhand right to the head of Chambers, rocking him.
Klitschko came out in the third round but didn't go for the finish. Instead he went back to jabbing even though it was clear he had hurt Chambers the round before. Fast Eddie was moving but wasn't throwing his usual quick combinations. He kept both hands high and blocked a lot of Klitschiko's shots.
Klitschko used his jab as a range finder and sometimes left it extended in his opponent's face which the referee let him get away with. Now and again Klitschko landed hard rights that hurt Chambers but they were sporadic and he didn't follow through to end the fight.
Chambers was trying to go low and counter but Klitschko wouldn't let him. The only real punches coming at Chambers was the jab and right hand but his corner didn't make any adjustment to avoid them.
Klitschko's trainer, Emanuel Steward, wanted Wladimir to close the show from about round number seven but he was still being cautious. After the ninth round, Chambers had to change his right glove. This was maybe a respite for Chambers to give him the push he needed in the final rounds. But it wasn't to be.
Impressive
As the fight got restarted a few minutes later the pattern stayed the same. Klitschko jabbed and Chambers moved. Wladimir wasn't too impressive but a lot of that was down to Chambers not taking any chances.
Going into the 12th and final round Steward told Klitschko: "He's running to survive. There's no way he should be going 12 rounds," adding that he was waiting too long and not throwing enough punches. Klitschko replied: "I will try," with Steward telling him they didn't need another decision win.
Klitschko listened and pushed on the gas forcing Chambers back and about a minute and-a-half into the round a big right hand landed as Chambers moved desperately. With just 14 seconds left in the round a big left hook to the head dropped Chambers and knocked him out cold.
Klitschko got the KO win at 2:55 of the 12th round and, for that one round in the entire fight, he looked exciting and dangerous. The pep talk worked. If Wladimir fought each fight the way he fought in the final round he could bring back the excitement this division needs.
Source: skysports.com
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